Chapter 43

I awoke in a mass of naked female flesh again. I never tire of that simple pleasure. I started to extricate myself as I had to piss really badly, and I woke the rest of the bed. I barely made it to the urinal I had put in extra just for me. Then it was shower time, how we got ten of us in that shower is beyond me, but we managed and everyone got clean. We all dried off and dressed; now it was time for breakfast and then on to welcoming our new tribe members and getting all of them settled. I asked George when I was sitting down to eat, ‘George, any problems last night?’

“No Bob everything went according to plan. We are keeping them asleep until your group starts down the hill just like yesterday morning. I think we are getting better at this transporting people as it didn’t take as long as we thought.”

‘Thank you George and all the rest who worked on this.’

“Bob this is Caroline, Fred told me your idea and it will work perfectly. Just let us know when you want to do this and we can do the implant during their sleeping time. We may have eventually thought of it but it just did not come to mind before. Thanks for the suggestion Bob. We all are enjoying this mission.”

We all finished eating and we grabbed all the travois we had made and headed down the hill to the meadow. I greeted Dignar, Therssa, Orangan, and Grenna and welcomed them to our camp. Grunto and Thorf came with me and I introduced them too. They helped load up four travois and told them to follow them and they would take them to their new cave of their own. Dignar was very impressed and Grenna asked if she could ride on Thorf’s shoulders. He swooped up the child and put her on his shoulders. Grenna squealed in joy and said, “Poppa I can see everything from up here. This is fun Poppa.”

“Just make sure you hang on Grenna,” said Thorf as he walked away dragging two loaded travois and the little 6 year old child on his shoulders.

Dignar said to me, “Bob, this is such a friendly camp, I never expected such treatment from ‘Others’. I did not know they were such friendly people. We had not had any dealings with their kind before but I see they are much like us.”

“Dignar, all people are just like us, there might be slight differences like size or shape or coloring, but we are all humans and we all want the same things in life. We want food for our people, clothing so we stay warm in winter and cool in summer, we want a good clean home and good friends to share our joy and sorrow. What more could we possibly want from life? Here we have all of that and more. Welcome to your new home.”

“On behalf of my tribe we thank you for your hospitality and generosity for inviting us here. I can see we will be very happy here.”

I led Dignar’s family up to the cave and ushered them in through the barrier then took them on a tour of their room in the headman’s cave and then I toured them through the main cave and all the rooms for their tribe members, a lot of his people were already settling in and exploring the bathrooms and kitchens. I showed them the coolers and freezers. I also shower Dignar the two new smokers we had made. He asked why the mud on the walls and I said that it kept the smoke inside the hut and allowed the meat to cook as well as be smoked. This way the meat lasted longer when we put it in the coolers or freezer. He marveled at the size of the main cave. I explained that we ate all our meals in the main cave together. There was no assigned seating, so anyone could set anywhere they liked. I did say we did have one table assigned to my family and any of the headmen who wanted to sit with us. Therssa and Orangan wanted to go to their room and unpack as I asked Dignar if he and his two headmen wanted to go and take a look at our fence; we were almost done with it so we could keep horses and aurochs in. Dignar was interested in that tour.

I had the men climb into the truck and I grabbed a water cooler jug filled with ice water and headed over to the fence in the canyon. There, some of the men were working on adding the hut sticks to the fence, on the far side of the canyon. I pulled up and called to Merthar, “Merthar, call your men in I have cold water for them in the truck.”

Merthar whistled and I blew my regular horn so the men could know we were there with water. I saw that Merthar had a couple new men working on his crew. Olnafot and Eriken had joined his crew and I asked Olnafot, “Why are you here today, Olnafot? You just joined us yesterday.”

“Merthar asked this morning for people to work on the fence and Eriken and I asked if we could help. He had many people who wanted to help. He picked both of us, and some of the men who had worked here before. He thanked us for volunteering and said it would give some of his men a chance to rest. I just hope we are doing well.”

Merthar broke in then and said, “Bob these two men have out worked the rest of us combined. We only had to show them once what we needed to do and they have been very good workers. They help others when they have a problem and we all get the work done faster. I will pick some more of them tomorrow so we can get many men trained in this work. We still have the training pen, the snubbing pen, and the holding pen yet to build. These young men can help us very much.”

Torget said, “You will have more volunteers tomorrow morning. I for one want to try this fence building, and I know more of our people will be there too.”

“Thank you...”

“Excuse me Merthar; this is Torget, Mundoner, and their leader Dignar. They just came this morning and I was giving them the tour,” I said apologetically.

“Thank you Torget, I will remember you when I pick my crew for tomorrow. It is hard work, but we can see the reason for this and it will be better for all of us once we can get some horses trained for riding and carrying things. And we can put aurochs in the fence too, Bob says that we can get milk from the female aurochs and it is good to drink cold and is very good for you. We have only one female Auroch right now but we plan to have many more.”

Mundoner asked, “Why are you adding the sticks to this fence. I would think the horses and aurochs could not get out built like it is.”

“Mundoner,” Merthar answered, “the horses and aurochs cannot get out, but predators can get in. By adding the sticks, we can eliminate predators coming in. The sticks are small enough that nothing can climb it safely and they can’t jump over it because it is too high. The walls of the canyon protect them as they are too straight. There is no place inside the canyon where something can come down the walls as they are too steep. If they try they will be killed in the fall. There is only one place we would have to watch for, but it is steep and has shale and small sharp rocks on the wall. Any animal trying that would be ripped up trying to come down it. The shale slides too easily and the rocks are very sharp. This canyon, with the fence, is a very safe place, to keep animals you want to keep from harm. There is a small, stream running through most of the canyon, so there is plenty of water and with as large as it is, there is much grass for them to eat.”

“Bob this is the perfect place for that. I see now why you have built your fence here,” Dignar said.

“Yes Dignar, we have a large gate down towards the middle where we can let animals in or out and that particular area is electrified. It means that if you touch the fence you will feel a jolt like touching lightning or a very hot coal from a fire. It discourages animals from getting too close to the gate area.” I interjected.

“I will stay away from the gate then, Bob. I do not like to be close to lightning and I have already burned my foot from a fire.” Torget said.

“Torget, we have a way to turn the electricity off so it is safe to approach the gate. There is a switch, did you call it Bob, there to turn it off.” said Merthar

“Yes Merthar it is called a switch. I can show you all, the switch later, once we get everything set up here and turn it on.” Merthar said.

“Now it is almost time for lunch, shall be break for lunch and Merthar and his crew can come back after lunch and keep working, everyone climb into the truck.” All the working crew climbed into the back and my new guests and Merthar climbed back inside the truck. I drove slowly back to the garage and unloaded. We went into the main cave and lunch was being served. Stew again, but this smelled different, aha, fish stew today, that was the new smell.

We all ate lunch and I took the men back to the fence job along with Torget as he wanted to help this afternoon. I came back, and played and read to Angel for a while. Then I talked to Fred about the next visitors we would be getting tomorrow. Fred said, “First should be Threefore. He came into Dignar’s camp late last night and found nothing. He has run all night and some this morning, and will be here late this afternoon. He is resting close to the turnoff to Joulnar’s camp. He should arrive just before supper if he does not rest too long. I would expect him before dark. Next is Hentor he should be here in about mid-morning, but I have not seen him for a couple days. Then there is Garthun he is from Grabto’s tribe. He should be here tomorrow afternoon or the next day. He is being held up by a flash flood of a river. It is flowing too fast to safely cross so it may be a couple more days. You need to watch out for Hentor, I do not trust this man. Please do not allow him to be recognized by the barrier. Only allow him to come in once with your assistance. I do not like what I sense from him. George, can you get a sense for this man Hentor?”

“Fred, like you, I sense something not right about this man. I will try to see if we can get anything from his tribe. I will let you both know if I find anything out about him or Menten’s tribe.”

“Thank you George, keep us informed,” I said, “Now Fred about Threefore, is he panicked about there being nothing at Dignar’s camp?”

“No Bob I think panic is not the word, worried, strongly worried about someone named Vernita. It seems that he is in love with her and was going to ask Dignar if he could be mated to her. Now that Dignar’s camp is gone, he is worried that Dignar moved his camp and he does not know where to find her or their camp.”

“Can you give him a hint that all is well and that he will soon see his love?”

“Bob, I think that I should just ease his mind and say that things will work out, just be patient.”

“Thanks that should work better.”

“Yes Bob that worked much better, he is less worried, but is now in a hurry to get here.”

“Good Fred, I think I need a nap, but I want Pauloa to drive the truck down to pick up the men on the fence crew before supper. Can you ask Barbara to talk to Pauloa and I can nap here in my chair.”

“Bob why not use the couch, it is much better for your back than that chair. I will awaken you before supper time. You have worked hard the last several days and you deserve the rest. We can handle the rest, and if we can’t, I will just wake you early. Sleep well Bob.”

“Thanks Fred.”

I lay on the couch and was out like a light. Sometime later Nadira came in and woke me with a big kiss. “What are you doing here Nadira; it’s not supper time yet is it?”

“Almost Bob, but you have a visitor, a man named Threefore; he has come from Grojan’s tribe. He is with Vernita from Dignar’s tribe. It seems they are in love. You have to get up and greet him and find out what he wants.”

“Yes Nadira, I will have to get up and do my duty.”

“Did you not get lots of sleep last night? We did not bother you with your ‘nightly duties’ last night so you should be well rested for tonight!”

“After this nap, I will be well rested for tonight’s duties, so be prepared for tonight, my love. Inform the others I will be more than ready for tonight.”

She giggled and ran off while I got off the couch and went in the bathroom and cleaned up some.

I walked into the main cave where I saw Dignar, Therssa, and a young couple beside them talking. I assumed this would be Threefore and Vernita. I approached the table and Dignar rose and introduced Threefore and Vernita. I sat as did Dignar and Threefore, then Therssa and Vernita excused themselves and went to another table. “Well Threefore, you have come a long way to see me. Do you have a message for me from your leader Grojan?”

“Yes Sky Spirit Bob, I do have a message for you, but first I must ask how did Dignar’s camp just disappear? When I came by there late last evening there was nothing there, no huts, no people, nothing. Camps don’t just disappear do they? Dignar said that all his camp was moved here to your meadow. How did that happen?”

“Well Dignar was right; we moved his whole camp here to the meadow. We have vehicles to move a lot of stuff in a short period of time.” I winked at Dignar and he understood that something was not right, but he did not know what, but he would keep quiet and follow my lead. “Now what is your message to me?”

“Well Bob, Grojan would like to talk with you and your second in command about us possibly joining your camp. We are several miles southeast of where Dignar’s camp was and we are slowly running out of animals to hunt. Most of them are going north right now but it is too far for us to follow them. We know that they will be coming back south later in the year, but we need meat now. Most of what we have left around us is the big cats and a few cave bears. And they are stalking us. We are afraid that they may even come into camp to get us. We need help now. Can you help Bob?”

“Just a minute, Let me go talk to someone, I will be right back.” I ran into my office and called to Fred. “Fred, can you tell me please the condition of Grojan’s camp. Are there large predators hanging around their camp? Threefore was talking of big cats and cave bears. He also says that their people are slowly starving, can any of this be true?”

“Bob, I do not know for certain, I will ask George to see if they can scan the area and see what is happening there. I have a limited ability as I am here and they have better range. I have asked George to look into it and the space craft is moving slightly to be able to scan the area around Grojan’s camp. We should have an answer shortly. I heard what Threefore was saying, but I’m not sure he was telling the whole story. Something is not right here. We will know more in a few minutes.”

We waited a couple more minutes and then George came into my head, “Bob, yes there is something wrong, but it is not four legged predators. It is the two legged kind. It is Menten’s tribe that is attacking Grojan’s people. They seem to be scaring them to surrender so that they can take over the camp. It appears that Menten is like Detara. He is a bully and is mean besides.”

“George, can you move Grojan’s camp to the place where Dignar’s camp once was. If you can, please do so as quickly as you can. Will Menten’s men attack at night?”

“Bob I can move them there tonight as soon as it is dark. But what about Menten and his people, they will come looking for them. And then they will be really mad.”

“George, I do not plan on them being angry for very long. If you can move the camp tonight, do so, prepare Grojan’s people for the move and move them as fast as you can. I don’t want them coming here until I know more about who came with them. There might be spies in his camp. Now Fred, can you implant gun knowledge into about five more men and provide guns for them and we can get about 10 more men with bows and the knowledge to use them. I want Joulnar, Tovar, Teague, Merthar, and Olnafot for the rifles, but I want Grunto, Thorf, Valkorla, Dignar, Torget, Mundoner, Grounto, and Eriken for sure on the bows. I want Harlou and maybe Tocla with bows as well. We need those people in the range tomorrow practicing. I will also be teaching a hand-to-hand class as well to all of those I named. I want to be able to go to Menten’s camp and dispense some much needed justice.”